Letter From Turtle Bay (About Russia)

Russia adopts model adoption law

Posted on | June 20, 2013 by J.C. von Krempach, J.D. 

Turtle Bay and Beyond

New law protects all children in Russia against gay adoption and other forms of human trafficking 

Reacting to the disturbing fact that some Western countries have put in to place legislation that under the pretext of a “right to adoption” makes it possible to hand over innocent children to homosexual couples, Russia has enacted a new law that makes sure that such a thing cannot happen to Russian children. Under this law, Russia will prohibit adoption by foreign couples whose homeland recognizes same-sex “marriage”, as well as by single people or unmarried couples. The Duma adopted the law unanimously.

Often criticised for its poor human rights record, Russia appears to be turning into a flagship for the protection of innocent children against moral corruption.
This is urgently needed in a country where 70 years of Communism have destroyed the family and which faces an unprecedented demographic crisis with one of the lowest birth rates of the world, an extremely high incidence of abortion (which the Soviet Union was the first country to legalize), and a population loss of nearly 1 million a year. The Russian Government is bitterly aware that children are a society’s most valuable resource, and not a commodity that should be sold to those who are not willing to reproduce in a natural way.

By ruling out adoption both by homosexual couples and individual persons, Russia recognizes that what nature foresees for children is to grow up with a father and a mother. Where a child has lost one or both parents, adoption should provide it with the best possible substitute, i.e. with married parents that resemble a natural family. As the European Court of Human Rights, in one rare moment of lucidity, once recognized, adoption is about “providing a child with a family, not a family with a child”.

This new law shows full respect for the principle set out in Article 21 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, that “States Parties that recognize and/or permit the system of adoption shall ensure that the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration".

It is hoped that other countries will follow this shining example.